20th Jun 2007, 00:23
It's me KIM Again... I posted on May 8th. My trannie failed again for the 4th time. THIS time they replaced the whole trannie instead of "rebuilding it". My VUE runs great... much better than it did any of the 3 times they rebuilt it. They finally went all the way and replaced EVERYTHING like they should have done the first time. Between the 4 fixes, the tow trucks and the rental cars, they have invested close to $30k into this vehicle I paid only $24k for. After the third repair I entered into the class action suit and will remain even if I have no more problems, because I will still feel compelled to dump this vehicle when the warranty runs out at 75k; about 150k sooner than I had anticipated. I got 200k out of my last Saturn and I expected to get that out of this one.
Kim.
27th Jun 2007, 13:24
I keep reading about the Vue 4-cylinder. Is this tranny the same in the 6-cylinder? I'm not a car person, but my problem sounds the same as I hear on here. I have a 2003 Saturn Vue AWD 6-cylinder engine. It's a 3.0. I have around 48k on it and Saturday it started stalling out like you let out on the clutch on a manuel. It was doing it only on occassion when I would slow down to a stop, but it seems to be increasing. I took it to a mechanic and he said he couldn't get in the computer on the Saturn to figure it out. It's at another mechanic now - though it had to get towed because it stalled out and wouldn't restart at all. In fact instead of just stalling it did go 10mph for a 100-200 feet and then stalled all the way. I'm glad it went the little bit further or I would've been sitting in the middle of the road set for a nice T-Bone accident!! This SUV has been to the Saturn dealer a couple times. They've always been nice, but now we're over the 36k or whatever warranty is. I hope that it can get fixed. I'm still paying on it. Let me know if the transmission is the same thing. I can't seem to find that or if anyone has any other thoughts on what it might be that would be good to. Thanks very much.
28th Jun 2007, 08:23
As for the previous poster--no, your V6 model has a different transmission than the problematic VTi. You have a 5-speed auto built by Aisin, and it's a pretty trouble-free unit. Sounds like you have an engine problem, not a transmission problem. Have your mechanic check the crankshaft position sensor (CPS). When malfunctioning, they can cause the car to stall and have difficulty restarting. It's not an expensive repair, either. Good luck.
29th Jun 2007, 20:28
I have a 2003 Saturn Vue V6, and a couple of months ago I had to replace the right rear wheel bearings, and last week I had to replace the front left strut.
But I was reading about the transmission failure, and my car, when you start out from a dead stop, sometimes it starts out fine, and sometimes it sounds like it isn't shifting. It sounds like when you have the car in park, and you press the gas pedal, and it doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't die. I just let my foot off the pedal and then press down again, and it will act right.
Has anyone else had this problem? I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem? This is the first big problem I have had out of it. It has 93,000 miles on it.
5th Jul 2007, 00:04
I have a 2003 AWD 6 cyc. Saturn Vue. Mine was also a rebuild, mainly cosmetic problems. I bought it with 54,000 on it, now it has 63,000 and within the last two weeks randomly stalls out. It seems to happen when I slow down, sometimes happens when I am trying to pull into parking spaces. Usually will restart within 3-15 minutes. I have taken it to two separate repair centers, neither can replicate the problem. It did it 4x's the first time it happened, then almost two weeks went by before another problem. No one seems to have any answers for me. Any ideas?
5th Jul 2007, 16:32
To the above comment about the stalling problem: have your mechanic check/replace the crankshaft position sensor. Reasonably cheap and easy to do, and is a pretty common problem on the 3.0 Vues.
12th Jul 2007, 15:44
Like everyone else, we bought the Saturn Vue FWD VTI trans brand new, hadly drive the car, but we have gone through 3 major transmission fixes. The first one we at 6000 miles 01/04, followed by another at 6500 05/19, third time they replaced a the entire transmission. Last week the car kept stalling went to the dealership three times. They have replaced majority of the parts, part now the car makes an additional noise when doing a hard turn at acceleration. I am told this normal noise on the VTI.
Does anyone know if the class action Suit is still out there? count me in ian_fred7@hotmail.com
GM needs to extend the warranty or offer to replace the transmissions with functional ones every time one fails. None of this band aid fixes. My car has 25000 miles one more year before the warranty runs.
13th Jul 2007, 09:40
First of all, GM DID extend the warranty on the VTi transmission. Do your research before you complain.
Secondly, stop expecting everyone to take care of you. Cars break, and if they do so out of warranty, man up and deal with it. GM doesn't have a great history with introducing new technology, so you weren't too smart to have purchased the VTi in its first year anyway. Caveat emptor, I suppose.
23rd Jul 2007, 13:03
A few weeks ago I brought our 04 Vue in for servicing. The tech noticed fluid seeping out of one of the inner valves and said that it needed to be repaired. They attributed the problem to the vti transmission and thankfully the extended warranty covered the extensive repairs. We decided to trade the Vue in quickly and cut our losses. We even considered getting a 2007 Vue, but Saturn offered us well below book value and refused to give us a good price on a new one. The salesman even had the audacity to say that the transmission made the value of the car lower! We went to Hyundai (formerly our local Saturn dealer) and they gave us $800 more for the trade-in and worked out a great deal for a new Santa Fe. We loved that Vue and it broke our hearts to part with it, but we are not fools. I still ride around in my 2000 SW2 with 115,000 miles on it and hope to double that.
7th Jun 2007, 13:10
First of all, it's GM, not GMC. GMC is GM's truck division.
As for the rest--it might be time to grow up. Your car is 4 years old, and has who knows how many miles on it. The car is now YOUR responsibility, not GM's. Yep, that's way too early for a trans to fail, and it's no secret that the VTi was a complete disaster. But expecting GM to completely refund the total cost of the car is silly. If you bought the car used, there was PLENTY of data highlighting this failure-prone transmission, and you only have yourself to blame. If you bought it new--caveat emptor, I suppose--that's just the way it goes sometimes. Man up and deal with it. If I were you, I'd have it repaired while under the VTi's extended warranty and then sell it while it was in working order.